1. **Welcomes and Introductions**

The co-chairs, Gregor McGill, Director of Legal Services and Assistant Commissioner Nick Ephgrave welcomed members to the National Disclosure forum. The Forum in turn introduced themselves and the agency/department they were representing.

2. **Magnet Demonstration**

The Forum welcomed Joanna Herrmann, Sarah Pearce and Steve Kirman from the MET police who gave a presentation on Magnet.

Nick Ephgrave set the context of Magnet which was one of the solutions being piloted to find a more efficient way to search for material in devices. Along with two other pilots running in Surrey and West Midlands, it is hoped to find the most effective solution.

A presentation was given explaining:

- The current state of digital searching and the desired future state
- What is on the project pathfinder
- A case study was shared on how Magnet was used to prove an end-to-end process.
- Feedback from users. Overall the system seemed to be a more reliable process.

Joanna took the Forum through a short demonstration of Magnet and outlined the important features such as an electronic officers note pad, a search and filter function for images and the use of ‘tags’ for offices to assign to images. There was no use of Artificial Intelligence in the current Magnet model but this was on the future development scope.

The Forum was shown how officers could easily view images and locate the evidence they needed. The ‘tagging’ function allowed officers to select specific images and give them a category-like listing which can then be collated into a PDF bundle of evidence.

The biggest benefit explained was the disclosure knowledge required to use Magnet. The software did require officers being aware of their disclosure obligations therefore encouraged officers to revisit their learning to really get the full benefits and proper usage of Magnet.

The Forum asked if the bundles of evidence would be disclosable, which they would be. If there was a situation where there was legal privilege, Magnet has a function for the officer to flag this to make the material have limited access.

There is currently not a redaction function but the development team are looking at this wider topic. Also in development is how Magnet could support other platforms like Apple Notes and Outlook calendars.

Vanessa Watling advised of the research being undertaken by Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport on emerging technology and ethics.

**ACTION:** Vanessa Watling to share DCMS contact with Magnet team.

3. **Streamlined Disclosure Certificates (SDC)**

Laura Tams gave an update regarding the ongoing work to review if the SDC was still fit for purpose.

Work has continued to draft a single version of the SDC led by a joint police and CPS working group. The draft shared with the Forum had also been sent to members of the National TSJ Working Group for their comments, along with feedback sought from the magistrates’ court disclosure champions within the CPS.

Laura gave a brief overview of the key changes made to the document which were:

- Change of name – changing ‘streamline’ to ‘standard’;
- A description of what is required on the schedule at the top;
- Auto population of the categories of material which will be subject to rebuttable presumption under the new AG guidelines.

The Forum understood the commitment and reasoning for rebuttal presumptions but there was an acknowledged resource implication.

4. **Case Progression**

Nick Ephgrave updated the Forum on current thinking to include the wider case progression topic into the NDIP governance as it has demonstrated to be a good model in driving change. Kate Anderson is looking at ways to adopt the NDIP model to extend the methodology. It was noted that the CJB have created a case progression sub-group which coincides with work being done by the National Implementation Team, so caution was given as to not create another group on the same issue.

The risk of duplicating work was noted and reassurance was given that there were ways to engage the judiciary and current NDIP members who sat on other groups to ensure coordination of work.

The NDIP had been a positive and credible model so felt it was worth exploring this to cover case progression.

5. **NDIP Progress update**

Laura Tams presented the embargoed copy of the NDIP Progress update which will be published every quarter. The progress reports are published on the CPS and NPCC websites and sent to parliamentarians, including the Justice Select Committee. In view of the prorogation of parliament publication will now be delayed until October.

Laura outlined some of the highlights in the report and explained the data included. It was acknowledged that this was new data so it was expected that it would need a few more quarters worth to really understand and get a true reflection of what the data means.

6. **AOB**

Nick Ephgrave gave the Forum early notice of the next annual NPCC Criminal Justice conference confirmed for March 2020 in Manchester. Details of the conference will be circulated in due course.

The meeting closed.